From a location point of view this post could have been titled ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’…
Then … Clarence gets word that Sam Blotz is at San Francisco’s City Hall; he parks outside, intent on following him.
… and Now, the imposing Beaux-Arts structure was built as a replacement for its predecessor that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake; more than a century later it hasn’t changed at all, viewed both Then and Now from Larkin Street. (The three tall cylinders in the foreground in this recent view are ventilation units for Brooks Hall, an underground exhibition space built in the the late 1950s but unused since 1993). At far left across Van Ness Avenue, below, is a glimpse of the War Memorial Opera House, not yet built in the Then image above.
On a historical note, here’s its predecessor after the dust settled and the fire burned out. Located across the Civic Center Plaza where the main library and U.N. Plaza are today, it was destroyed a mere nine years after it was completed.
Then … Clarence spots Blotz …
A 1922 vintage photo reveals where this was filmed. But this isn’t San Francisco, it’s in Hollywood, Los Angeles - the Masonic Temple at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard (map).
… and Now, The Greek Revival styled building is still there today, the home of the Jimmy Kimmel late night television show. Clarence’s car in the Then image above was parked exactly where the black sedan is, below. This block is part of Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame - note the embedded stars arrayed along the sidewalk.
Then … Blotz exits the building and climbs into a swanky limo. The number above the doorway that looks like it was written by a 2nd-grader reveals where this shot was filmed: still in Los Angeles, this was the Hotel Regent at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard (incidentally, for the picky amongst us, seven blocks from where Clarence was parked).
… and Now, over the decades this block has changed drastically - right here is where the hotel used to be.
... a late 1920s photo captured it back in its heyday.
… and from this newspaper ad it’s clear that the hotel had newly opened when the scene was filmed there (The Last Edition was released in November 1925 ). Note the proud boast … “A Radio In Every Room”! (TV was not yet invented).
Then … But as Blotz’s limo takes off we are are back at City Hall in San Francisco. (Note the other continuity goof here; Blotz is sitting behind the driver but in the Then image above he’s behind the front passenger seat).
… and Now, This is the Grove Street side of City Hall, the same one seen in the first photo in this post. The long balcony in the center is shared by the Mayor’s office and that of the adjoining office staff.
Then … But for this shot of Clarence following Blotz we jump back to Los Angeles southwest of Downtown. The camera looks east along 12th Street with Trenton Street crossing at left just ahead. Note that large building at the end of the block…
… and Now, in the late 1960s this block and several others aound it were demolished to create a site for the Los Angeles Convention Center which opened in 1971. The Staples Center indoor arena was built there in the late 1990s - the two blocks of 12th Street, above, used to be where the south edge of the arena is, below.
CitySleuth thanks reader Notcom for tracking down the 12th Street location. He also came across this 1917 newspaper photo of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company building at 1265 Figeroa, the large building in the Then image above. Compare the building’s left side, on 12th Street, with the movie shot. They match.
Angelenos have at least one thing in common with San Franciscans: a nostalgic preference for beloved stadium names. Staples Center was renamed Crypto.com Arena in December 2021 but continues to be referred to by most as Staples Center, aka ‘The House That Kobe Built’. In much the same way, San Franciscans still fondly remember Giants ballpark Candlestick Park, eschewing subsequent renames 3Com Park and later, Monster Park.
Then and Now aerial view … Click or tap the 1928 image below to see the dramatic urban transformation of the blocks containing 12th and Trenton Streets. The ‘X’ marks the spot where the camera was set up to film the 12th Street shot.
At a local police station the Chronicle’s courthouse reporter slips a cigar to the desk sergeant then seeks the quid pro quo: “Do you have anything for me today?”
Then … In a later scene we are shown where this took place - Police Station 6 (although the interior scene may have been filmed in a studio).
… a vintage photo … John Bengston’s excellent website silentlocations.com revealed the location of this police station - read his detailed post about it here. It was set in San Francisco but was filmed at 1629 N. Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood (map). The station - it shared a building with the Fire Department’s Engine 27 - was there from 1913 to 1930 during which time it appeared in many silent movies including comedies by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
On a trivia note this fun photo taken in 1928 in front of Station 6 provided ample evidence that a cop’s day is not all work and no play.
… and Now, the music publishing company Real Songs, readdressed as # 1635, now sits squarely on the old fire/police station site. But the 2-story hotel on the left has survived (it’s partially visible in the vintage photo of the station, above).
The reporter is in luck; he calls the Chronicle’s city editor with a scoop: the police have set their sights on Sam Blotz, a suspected bootlegger.
Then … At far right the city editor asks a young staffer to bring him everything they have on Blotz.
… and Now, this was filmed on the 3rd floor of the San Francisco Chronicle’s 901 Mission Street building where reporters continue to work 100 years later in the same, albeit modernized, space.
Then … The newspaper’s librarians dig out information on Blotz.
… a vintage photo … here’s that same library in 1924 at the San Francisco Chronicle’s 901 Mission Street building. The wall-mounted files seen above are arrayed along the side wall. Note in both images the radiator alongside the column.
The editor shows the files and photographs to Clarence Walker (Polly McDonald’s suitor), assigning him the task of writing an exposé of Sam Blotz.
Then … Next unfolds perhaps the most memorable of the Dirty Harry series scenes. It begins at this street junction, meant to be Battery and California. A passing California & Market Street cable car rolls by and on the left is a bank - the United Bank Of San Francisco. But this is all phony - there never was such a cable car line, nor was there such a bank; what’s more, Battery Street doesn’t terminate at California, it crosses. The entire scene was filmed on the Universal Studios back lot in Hollywood.
… and Now, Here’s an aerial photo of the back lot today showing where the scene was filmed, at one end of New York Street.
… and Now, a closer look courtesy Google Satellite View. The lot was rebuilt after a major fire in 2008 but the street layout is the same and the bank building seen in the movie has survived. The location of a corner burger joint prominently featured in the scene is also indicated here.
Callahan drives past the bank, takes a left , parks in what is today Wall Street on the back lot (it was called Factory Street before the post-fire rebuild) and takes a seat at the counter in the Burger Den for a hot dog. (The street signs behind him identifies this corner as Pine and Battery). But he’s very suspicious of the tan Ford that he drove by outside the bank with it’s engine running; his gut tells him a robbery may be in progress.
Then … The bank alarm starts to ring prompting him to draw his gun and head outside (note the Pine street sign) just as the robbers are running out of the bank ...
… in 2006 … As late as 2006, before the 2008 fire, this back lot photo reveals that this end of New York Street surprisingly hadn’t changed much.
Chaos and carnage ensue when, firing across Battery Street, he takes out the robbers one by one, including the driver of the fleeing getaway car which ends up on its side after destroying a fire hydrant. In this view along Pine Street (Wall street in today’s back lot) the crossing street is named Sansome, an actual SF city street that parallels Battery, although in the real world Pine doesn’t tee into Sansome as shown here, it crosses it. (But, for some semblance of accuracy to the San Francisco street layout that should have been Front Street, not Sansome).
Then … In this great shot looking the other way down New York Street Callahan nonchalantly strides past the shocked onlookers towards the bank. The corner burger joint is behind him but look at what’s playing on the movie theater just down the block … Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty For Me, released a few weeks before Dirty Harry. Free advertising!
… and Now, The same view in the back lot today reveals that most of the structures have been changed except for the one facing us dead center at the end (OK, it has an added top story). The burger joint in the movie was located at the far left corner.
Callahan approaches an injured robber whose dropped shotgun is just beyond his reach (note the street signs - California and Battery). The thief glances down at it, tempted but hesitant …
… prompting Callahan to deliver the movie’s classic monologue.
The punk backs off and Callahan retrieves the weapon. But did the punk make the right call? As Callahan walks off he calls out: “I gots to know”. So Callahan aims his gun right at him and slowly squeezes the trigger. Click … the chamber was empty. He turns away with a smirk having demonstrated an equal ability for mental as well as physical abuse.
Here’s another shot of the Elite Laundry, located at 14519 Sylvan Street in Van Nuys. (It was described in more detail in the previous post).
Agent Grayson has managed to get a job at the laundry and is in a good spot to watch incoming customers. He watches as Dr. Neva, one of the senior scientists, drops off her laundry.
Then … He observes the man at the counter slip one of her handkerchiefs into a package, picked up shortly afterwards by Krebs, one of the spy ring members. Below, Krebs is seen leaving the laundry which back then was one of many small shops and stores lining the block.
and Now, the building that housed those stores looks very different now. It dates back to 1922 but was extensively changed in 1988.
Then … Krebs walks on, passing a large plumbing and appliance store that conveniently displayed its name on the window …
and Now, a street directory identified this location - the J. Hokom plumbing showroom at 860 N.Highland Avenue - but it’s in Hollywood, miles from Van Nuys. A not unusual geographical hiccup for the moviemakers but confusing for locals in the audience. The building is still there today.
The FBI agents have no intention of allowing any more secrets to be spirited out of the country so they waylay Krebs, snatch the package and take the handkerchief to a lab for analysis. Sure enough, it yields yet another formula.
It’s not easy being an FBI agent - Krebs, still bruised from his earlier roughing-up from O’Hara, turns the tables and regains possession of the handkerchief while dishing out revengeful rough stuff. He leaves the agents to his henchmen … “You know what to do …” but a brave, unfortunately sacrificial, intervention by Grayson’s landlady enables their escape.
